Telecom
New Instagram Campaign to Raise Awareness and Help Protect Teens from sextortion Scams
Instagram has announced measures to further protect people from sextortion scam, including hiding follower and following lists from potential sextortion scammers, preventing screenshots of certain images in DMs, and rolling out our nudity protection feature globally
Sextortion is a horrific crime, where financially-driven scammers target young adults and teens around the world, threatening to expose their intimate imagery if they don’t get what they want. Today, we’re announcing new measures in our fight against these criminals – including new safety features to further help prevent sextortion on our apps, building on protections already in place.
New safety features to disrupt sextortion
Meta is announcing a range of new safety features designed to further protect people from sextortion and make it even harder for sextortion criminals to succeed.
Now, we’re making it harder for accounts showing signals of potentially scammy behavior to request to follow teens. Depending on the strength of these signals – which include how new an account is – we’ll either block the follow request completely, or send it to a teen’s spam folder.
Sextortion scammers often use the following and follower lists of their targets to try and blackmail them. Now, accounts we detect as showing signals of scammy behavior won’t be able to see people’s follower or following lists, removing their ability to exploit this feature. These potential sextorters also won’t be able to see lists of accounts that have liked someone’s posts, photos they’ve been tagged in, or other accounts that have been tagged in their photos.
Soon, we’ll no longer allow people to use their device to directly screenshot or screen record ephemeral images or videos sent in messages. This means that if someone sends a photo or video in Instagram DM or Messenger using our ‘view once’ or ‘allow replay’ feature, they don’t need to worry about it being screenshotted or recorded in-app without their consent. We also won’t allow people to open ‘view once’ or ‘allow replay’ images or videos on Instagram web, to avoid them circumventing screenshot prevention.
We’re constantly working to improve the techniques we use to identify scammers, remove their accounts and stop them from coming back. When our experts observe patterns across sextortion attempts, like certain commonalities between scammers’ profiles, we train our technology to recognize these patterns. This allows us to quickly find and take action against sextortion accounts, and to make significant progress in detecting both new and returning scammers. We’re also sharing aspects of these patterns with the Tech Coalition’s Lantern program, so that other companies can investigate their use on their own platforms.
Finally, after first announcing the test in April, we’re now rolling out our nudity protection feature globally in Instagram DMs. This feature, which will be enabled by default for teens under 18, will blur images that we detect contain nudity when sent or received in Instagram DMs and will warn people of the risks associated with sending sensitive images. We’ve also worked with Larry Magid at ConnectSafely to develop a video for parents, available in the Meta Family Center’s Stop Sextortion page, that explains how the feature works.
This campaign and new safety features are in addition to our recent announcement of Teen Accounts, which gives tens of millions of teens built-in protections that limit who can contact them, the content they see and how much time they’re spending online. Teens under 16 aren’t able to change Teen Account settings without a parent’s permission.
With Instagram Teen Accounts, teens under 18 will be defaulted into stricter message settings, which mean they can’t be messaged by anyone they don’t follow or aren’t connected to. In the EU, we will start placing teens into Teen Accounts later this year and in the rest of the world Teen Accounts will be available from January.
Taking action against sextortion criminals
Last week, we removed around 1,600 Facebook Groups and accounts that were affiliated with Yahoo Boys, and were attempting to organize, recruit and train new scammers. This comes after we announced in July that we’d removed around 7,200 Facebook assets that were engaging in similar behavior. Yahoo Boys are banned under Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy — one of our strictest policies — which means we remove Yahoo Boys’ accounts engaged in this criminal activity whenever we become aware of them. While we’ve been removing violating Yahoo Boys accounts for years, we’re putting new processes in place which will allow us to identify and remove these accounts more quickly.
We’ll continue to evolve our defenses to help protect our community from sextortion criminals. This includes helping teens and their families recognize these scams early, preventing potential scammers from reaching their targets, and working with our peers to fight these criminals across all the apps they use.
MTN Nigeria recently celebrated the graduation of the third cohort of its Media Innovation Programme (MIP), awarding a total of NGN 2.5 million in cash prizes to three outstanding fellows. The graduation ceremony took place at the Pan-Atlantic University in Ibeju-Lekki, highlighting MTN’s commitment to fostering innovation in the media sector.
Launched in partnership with the School of Media and Communication at Pan-Atlantic University, the MIP is designed to equip media professionals with essential skills in traditional journalism while emphasizing the importance of technology in storytelling. Over six-months, fellows engaged in a comprehensive curriculum that included topics such as media entrepreneurship, ICT in media, and ethical journalism.
During the graduation ceremony, three fellows were recognized for their exceptional contributions including the MTN Nigeria Chairman Award for Innovation awarded to Augustus Aigbe of Cool FM; the MTN Foundation Chairman Award for Innovative Reportage to Moninkanola Ogidan of Adaba 88.9FM, Akure and the MTN Award for Best Reporting awarded to Chiemelie Ezeobi from ThisDay Newspapers.
The Executive Director of MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya, emphasized the importance of the media innovation and adaptability in media, stating that these awards represent an investment in the future leaders of journalism. “At MTN, we believe a lot in excellence, which is why the partnership with Pan-Atlantic University is still ongoing. We recognise that the future of media lies in innovation and adaptability.
“These awards do not just celebrate the Fellows’ achievement; we are investing in the next generation of media leaders. In an era where digital platforms redefine how stories are told, media practitioners must be equipped with the skills and resources to thrive.”
Dr. Ikechukwu Obiaya, Dean of the School of Media and Communication, highlighted the significance of investing in future media professionals to drive positive societal change while maintaining ethical standards. “In recent times, technological innovation, social media, Artificial Intelligence and the likes have been viewed as dangerous, due to their misuse, although they are not in themselves bad.
“And this is one thing that drives our programs for media practitioners. Our vision is to train and equip competent and professional persons who will use these technological advancements and platforms as a means to contribute to the good of the society.”
The ceremony ended with the Class President, Nifemi Oguntoye expressing his gratitude towards MTN and Pan-Atlantic University for providing a transformative experience that fostered cultural diplomacy between Nigeria and South Africa. “We’ve had the privilege of learning from some of the best minds in the industry. The lessons learnt during our study trip, discussions and engagements have been invaluable. We are eternally grateful to Pan-Atlantic University and MTN for the commitment to empowering Nigerian journalists. A number of our colleagues look forward to having this experience in the next cohort and we know they will not be disappointed”, he said.
To date, MTN Nigeria has invested over NGN 300 million in the media. MIP not only aims to enhance the skills of individual practitioners but also seeks to contribute to a more robust media landscape capable of navigating the complexities of a digital economy projected to reach $18.3 billion by 2026. The event reflects MTN’s ongoing dedication to bridging the digital divide and enhancing media capabilities within Nigeria’s rapidly evolving landscape.
MTN Group and MTN Nigeria have expressed delight at participating in the 11th South Africa-Nigeria Bi-National Commission held in Cape Town on Tuesday, during which the strong bonds between the two countries were reinforced and plans were made to accelerate cooperation.
MTN Group CEO/President, Ralph Mupita and MTN Nigeria Chairman, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe with President Tinubu
The MTN delegation – led by Group President & CEO, Ralph Mupita, MTN Nigeria Chairman, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe and MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Olutokun Toriola – was honoured to engage with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the sidelines of the meeting, which was hosted by South Africa’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Hon Parks Tau.
MTN Nigeria is an important MTN subsidiary, accounting for some 27% of all MTN subscribers and some 23% of Group service revenue.
MTN has long established itself as a company that is a proud supporter of the Nigerian economy, remaining committed to contributing to the nation’s progress across several fronts.
“We believe in the Bi-National Commission’s objectives and the pivotal role of the digital economy in driving inclusive growth in Nigeria. We look forward to continuing our support for economic development initiatives,” says a MTN LinkedIn post.
Digital Realty Nigeria’s CEO, Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani, has received a prestigious Presidential recognition from the Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) at the 7th .ng Awards.
Engr. Ikechukwu Nnamani
This accolade recognizes his significant contributions to the growth and evolution of Nigeria’s digital ecosystem over the past three decades.
“Nnamani was honored for his innovative spirit and leadership in shaping the future of the digital landscape,” said NiRA President, Adesola Akinsanya, while commending him and other awardees for their exceptional work in driving digital transformation in Nigeria.
A visibly humbled Nnamani dedicated the award to his dedicated team at Digital Realty Nigeria, acknowledging their pivotal role in the company’s success. He expressed gratitude to NiRA and the broader industry for recognizing his contributions.
This latest recognition adds to Nnamani’s impressive list of accolades, including the Lifetime Achievement Award at Africa’s Beacon of ICT Merit and Leadership Awards and the prestigious Titans of Tech Hall of Fame.
The 7th .ng Awards, a biennial event, celebrated the achievements of individuals and organizations that have made significant strides in Nigeria’s digital landscape.
The two-day event featured insightful discussions on emerging technologies, digital trends, and the role of the .ng domain in shaping Nigeria’s digital future.
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